Meet Khoudia Diop, Stunning Senegalese Model

Meet Khoudia Diop, a young Senegalese fashion model who recently rose to internet stardom after her dark skin tone was captured in a photo for the Colored campaign, a platform that celebrates different skin shades.

Khoudia’s beautiful skin has taken the internet by storm, and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, especially on Instagram, where she regularly posts photos of herself using the handle @melaniin.goddess.

19 year old Khoudia admits that her skin has been the target of bullying while growing up in. Responding to a Facebook post about her nicknames – ‘Darky’, ‘daughter of the night’, ‘mother of stars’ – she said that “bullies used to come with all kinds of names thinking I’ll feel bad about my color, well guess what, I loved them all and showed them how much I didn’t care about what they think.”

She’s also inspiring people to embrace their differences, writing that “If you’re lucky enough to be different, don’t ever change.”

Skin bleaching is a big problem in many African countries, with a disturbing report found that 75% of Nigerian women are using skin lightening products to achieve a fairer skin tone, followed by Togo with 59% of women and South Africa with 35%.